


space between

by nerdlordholocron



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: AU minor canon divergence, I really hope they fix this but for now I am writing fanfiction to cope., ambiguous ending, and for campaign one but I haven't even finished that myself tbh, cause i am STILL writing fanfiction to cope, major spoilers for 2.26, of the author misheard shit variety, second chapter has spoilers for 2.30
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-09 19:30:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15274665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdlordholocron/pseuds/nerdlordholocron
Summary: SPOILERS FOR 2.26 LIKE WHOAVax waits with those who aren't ready to go yet.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well hey I feel absolutely godawful after that episode but there seem to be several ways that this might not be as final as it looks, even if they're long shots (and Molly is not the type to balk at long shots) and so I'm just going to try to cope by writing fic until I can collect myself a little better.
> 
> Take care of yourselves, friends.

The space between isn't given to honoring gravity of any similar laws, and its current occupant doesn't seem to be either. The robed figure tries to run, to climb out, to claw upward as though digging, frantic and entirely fruitless.

Vax steps forward, and the robed figure turns towards him despite there being no floor for his footsteps to sound on. The tiefling's red eyes are wide with panic, and Vax knows all too well the desperation on his face. "Where am I? Where are the others?" he asks, tail lashing behind him. Recognition begins to dawn. "Am I dead again?"

"I'm afraid so," Vax says gently. "You're at something of an in-between point. I'm here to help you move on, when you're ready."

"No. No, no, not yet, I can't go yet," the tiefling insists. "Look, I knew I probably wouldn't be there for that long, but there's a job I have to finish. I have to get Yasha and the others free, I have to help kill all the bastards that took them, and if that's it for me afterwards, that's all right, you can take me, I just have to--"

Vax walks closer, puts a hand on the tiefling's shoulder. "I hope that is not a bargain you wind up needing to make, friend," he says softly. "Believe me, I know how you must feel if you're trying to make it. I'm afraid I can't send you back myself. But if you don't want to go yet, I'll stay here with you. My friends were like yours, before, my family, and I'd have given anything to get back-- well, I sort of did-- but I mean, I get it. And I think yours might well try to call you back."

The tiefling arches a purple brow, some of the fight going out of him. "I doubt I was worth quite that much to them."

"I think you'd be surprised," Vax tells him. "Do you want me to wait with you?"

The tiefling looks around at the empty space between and shudders. "Please."

And so Vax waits with him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDITED NOTES: You can thank my shitty hearing and inability up remember that homebrew spell content exists for this chapter. I have been made aware that it wasn't Gentle Repose so here's one last AU, I guess. My demand for really great flowers still stands, anyway.
> 
> \---------
> 
> My hopes for that Gentle Repose spell aren’t really... anywhere above ground level, given the time limits, but I must admit I’m curious about whether it would interact with the weird shit that resulted in Molly in the first place. Anyway, updated with some borderline hopeful for if that’s what you need right now, and some goodbyes for if that’s what you need right now.
> 
> And if nothing else comes of the spell, there had better be some DAMN good flowers growing there later.
> 
> Keep taking care of yourselves, folks.

Usually, Vax knows, it's not more than ten days or so if they're going to go back. Not that time passes like that for him anymore, but he knows from the sunrises and sunsets as their companions rush to bring them back, and distantly, from when the spells in question were something that he and his friends were forced to consider, time and again.

He's gotten the sense that nothing about this Mollymauk is usual, and he really kind of hopes it stays that way. The days have passed in the material world, as he's swapped stories with Molly and learned about his friends, about their delights and quirks and their current peril. He can tell that this gaggle of adventurers, this fledgling family, have not got the strength yet to bring a miracle on their own, that they have to seek it out elsewhere if they manage the journey and the fight themselves.

Molly’s story is too short— both in that it makes Vax’s heart ache to see him brought down so soon after it started, and in that there’s something deeply strange about how he came to be in the first place, something that doesn’t add up, some twist of magic that Vax neither knows nor understands. And Molly doesn’t want to talk about it, even here, away from any possible consequence, but Vax isn’t going to make him. He’s there to keep him company, not to question.

It’s not too late for the right kind of spellcaster when Vax sees the carriages roll up, in the material world, but as the ragged group spill out, he can see that they haven’t got the right kind of spellcaster. Damn.

“They’re here,” he tells Molly. “They came back. Do you want to see?”

“Yes, I think I’d like that,” Molly says, ambling over to where Vax stands. Vax slings an arm around his shoulders, tugs at the veil in the way he is permitted to do— enough to see, not enough to break through.

The monk from the battle is there, holding tight to another tiefling. Vax watches the monk pull a deck from her pocket, show it to the tiefling. As the cards come out, Molly disentangles himself from Vax and steps forward, brushes a hand unseen against the tiefling’s fingers as she moves to pull a card— the Moon.

“It’s his card,” she’s saying, as she turns it over in her hands, smiling through tears.

“Keep it, dear, the deck won’t work with one missing,” Molly says, though it’s clear the other tiefling can’t hear. He wraps his arms around her shoulders and kisses her on the forehead. Vax knows that the contact won’t really be felt by either of them, but he’s not going to stop Molly from doing what feels right. He watches Molly do the rounds.

“Unpleasant one,” Molly says to the monk, and moves as if to clap her on the shoulder and slug her in the arm. “Nott. Mr. Caleb.” He wraps his arms around the pair, the scruffy human with a goblin in his arms, and leans up to kiss the human on the forehead as well. “Fjord.” He clasps the shoulder of the half-orc standing at salute, and Vax sees out of the corner of his eye strange magic there, too. Lots of people in this group who’ve cheated death in the past. He won’t tell.

Molly casts about, then, looking for someone unseen, and Vax watches his sad but easy smile slowly fade into concern. “Did Yasha— is she—“ he begins to ask Vax, but breaks off.

A huge woman has emerged from one of the carts, is walking unsteadily towards the grave. The others try to comfort her as she realizes what has occurred, sees the coat hanging on the pole, but to no avail. Molly runs to her side. “Yasha, Yasha, Yasha,” he says frantically, and flings his arms around shoulders that can’t feel them, “it’s okay, Beau’s alive, you’re alive, that’s all I wanted, you don’t have to— don’t leave them over me, don’t— oh, god, Yasha, live well, don’t throw anything away because of me—“

He breaks off as Yasha screams, just tries harder to hold onto her but Vax knows he’ll just go through her like so much smoke. He follows after Mollymauk, puts an arm around him again as Yasha’s terrible wings explode through where they’re standing, and shove the monk and tiefling to the side. As Yasha stands, begins to trudge away, Vax pulls Molly closer, gives him a hug he can actually feel. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs. “They would have brought you back if they could, I can tell.”

“I just want them to be all right,” Molly says into his shoulder. “And Yasha— is there any way I could—“

“I’m afraid not,” Vax says sadly. “We can only hope that she’ll go back to them. They’ll take care of her.”

Molly stays there a moment, shakes a little, before he steps back. “I guess that’s it, then,” he says, voice bright and brittle, as though he only half-believes what he’s saying. “On to the next big adventure?”

“When you’re ready,” Vax replies. “If there’s anything else you want to see here—“

He breaks off. One more person has come to the grave, and Vax can see that Molly doesn’t recognize him. The tall stranger, a firbolg, kneels down at the grave regardless, and Vax can sense the magic flowing from his hand. Molly looks down at his chest, feeling something, some divine spark. Vax knows the spell, knows it’s usually used to buy more time; but something is odd here, the way that last seed of preservation takes root in the strange magic that surrounds Molly.

Hope is not part of Vax’s job description, nor mercy really, but compassion might as well be. “Only when you’re ready,” he repeats. He won’t stand in the way of goodbyes, no matter how unheard. There’s not really a rush, here.

And if some miracle blooms from that seed— well. Vax won’t complain.


End file.
